Aiding consumers in their discovery of new media is highly desirable to many consumers as well as content providers. Currently, the primary mechanisms for discovery of media items are (1) recommendation services, and (2) broadcasting (radio, commercials, and movie trailers). Each of these mechanisms can be inadequate.
Recommendation services frequently suggest media items to a consumer based on other media items that other consumers have browsed, sampled, or purchased along with browsing, sampling, or purchasing other items. For example, a user might be listening to a song in an online store or on a media playback program; an associated system informs the user of other items that the store considers similar based on an analysis of other users' actions. While this type of system is beneficial, in that it can recommend new media items based on media items that the user might know they already enjoy, it suffers from the drawback that the sampling of the media item is limited. Frequently, the user cannot listen or watch the entire media item to decide if they want to purchase the media item.
Broadcasting methods can allow a user to experience a substantial portion of a media item and better aid a consumer to make informed purchasing decisions. This is especially true with respect to audio items, which are frequently played in their entirety by radio stations. However, radio stations rarely select songs for a specific user making much of their content poorly suited for a given consumer. Additionally, broadcast mediums frequently play many items that are already owned by certain consumers and continue to repeat the same items, thus failing to educate the consumer.
Internet radio has attempted to find a balance, but it is not adequate. In many instances, Internet radio allows users to select a seed item and the Internet radio station can compile a playlist based on the seed item. However, Internet radio stations struggle to remain profitable because they must pay a royalty on a per song basis. Some internet radio and satellite radio providers charge subscription fees, but this too is undesirable because the fees limit the number of consumers that can be enticed to purchase the new media items that can be discovered by these subscription services.
Accordingly, a system is needed that can introduce consumers to new media items that are tailored to the consumer's taste, yet give the consumer the ability to experience a sufficient portion of the media item so that they can make an informed purchase decision and also limit the royalty exposure of the service aiding the user in the discovery of new media items without charging a fee.